SLUDGE VICTIMS

Thermal date farmer Fernando Torres has been using Orange County fertilizer for about three years, and says so far it seems to work the same as steer manure _ at 75 percent of the cost.

"I saved $15,000," he said. "That's a lot of money. One more paycheck."

GREAT CLOUDS OF DUST But it's the spreading, turning and drying of the sludge that has brought the wrath of the community down on the sludge-farm operators. Great clouds of dust erupt from the site as many as 20 times a day as the finished product is loaded onto the same trucks that carry sludge into the plant. The clouds sometimes float across the desert, settling on nearby trailers and homes, tribe members say.

Clouds of flies also find their way to neighboring homes. Several tribe members in recent interviews described thick blankets of flies settling on window sills, clogging air conditioners and generally making life unbearable on the reservation.

Such problems didn't exist before sludge farming began on the reservation in 1988, said Rhonda Garcia, a tribe member who lives in a trailer less than half a mile from the plant. Before 1988, Orange County sludge was taken to landfills.

Garcia complains of foul odors from the plant.

"Sometimes you have to turn off the coolers and make sure all the windows are closed," she said.

Some tribe members speak of even more disturbing possibilities.

WATER CONTROVERSY A test of ground water beneath the sludge site, concluded by the California Regional Water Quality Control Board in April, showed high levels of contamination with poisonous heavy metals such as arsenic, cadmium and chromium in some cases two to three times the concentrations allowed by law.

The same heavy metals are found in sewage waste.

But Pima Gro contends that the wells the samples came from were not designed for proper testing _ open to the air and easily contaminated by blowing dust. Pima Gro has even suggested the samples were sabotaged. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has ordered a second round of tests with new, more reliable wells.

Tests by other agencies of deeper aquifers used for drinking water so far have revealed no contamination. But tribe members worry that contaminants, given enough time, could eventually work their way down. The EPA is planning more tests and wants to ensure no one is drawing drinking water from the shallow aquifers.

Headaches and nausea are common complaints on the reservation, and tribe members blame fumes wafting off the sludge farm. So EPA officials also